Pork kebabs Caucasian style

Useful tips
Choice of marinade
Caucasian style pork shashlik with lemon
With reddish wine
In kefir marinade
In pomegranate marinade
In tomato marinade
With oranges and walnuts
With tomato juice and onions
With vegetables

Juicy, fragrant and indescribably delicious kebabs are exactly the dish with which Caucasian cuisine is associated. It is usually believed that specifically representatives of the Caucasian peoples know a lot about barbecue. And this is not at all mind-blowing, because for them, making a meat dish is a creative process, in which every little thing plays a very important role, from choosing meat to marinating. Pamper your family and friends with a wonderful Caucasian-style pork shish kebab - and you are promised a reputation as the most experienced chef.

Useful tips

Typically, kebab in the Caucasus is prepared from lamb or young lamb. But if you wish, you can eat equally tasty and juicy pork cuts. Meat must be fresh; frozen meat can turn out bland and tasteless.

The meat is cut into medium-sized portions. Very large slices may remain raw inside, while small ones may burn and dry out. An indispensable rule of Caucasian shish kebab is a huge amount of onions. It can be added to the marinade or simply fried in rings along with the slices.

It is best to salt pork during cooking or just before it. If you salt the meat immediately after cutting, it can dry it out, make it hard and tasteless.

Choice of marinade

Marinade for barbecue plays a very important role, because the taste and tenderness of the dish depends on it. An incorrectly selected marinade can make pork very hard and dry, and a successful choice will help save even overdried meat.

Marinating pork in table vinegar is rarely used in Caucasian cuisine, because this method often leads to dry and tough kebab. The average duration of marinating, depending on the selected goods, is from 2 to 24 hours; for the freshest, “young” carcass, 60 minutes is enough.

Caucasian style pork shashlik with lemon

Lemon juice is excellent for making juicy and fragrant pork kebab. It perfectly softens the meat fibers, after which they become very tender.

freshest pork – 1.8 kg;
lemons – 6 pcs.;
olive oil – 30 ml;
chopped basil – 50-70 g;
ginger root – 10 g;
coriander, dark pepper or peas, cinnamon, bay leaves - 1 tsp each.

The pork must be thoroughly washed and cut into portions about 5-6 cm in size, lemons into slices. In a glass or clay bowl, mix the meat with citrus fruits, add spices and olive oil. The kebab should be marinated for 8-10 hours, stirring frequently. After this, put the slices on skewers and fry until golden brown.

In order to check the readiness of the dish, you need to pierce one piece with a knife or fork. If it is transparent inside, it means the kebab can be served. Drops of blood (the internal environment of the human and animal body) indicate that it is raw.

With reddish wine

To make Caucasian kebab, a marinade of reddish or snow-white wine is often used. In the first case, the taste of the meat dish will be the most catchy and rich, in the 2nd case it will be tender and piquant.

pork pulp – 1.6 kg;
onions – 6 pcs.;
reddish wine – 400-600 ml;
cilantro - a bunch;
pomegranate – 1.5-2 pcs.;
basil and dill - ½ bunch each;
bay leaf to taste;
pepper mixture.

The pork needs to be washed and cut into large pieces, the onion into half rings, and squeeze the juice out of the lemon. In a separate container, mix all the prepared ingredients with spices and finely chopped herbs, pour in reddish wine and marinate for 4-6 hours. The finished meat should be fried on skewers, occasionally sprinkling with wine and pomegranate juice.

In kefir marinade

Tender, juicy and appetizing - this is how pork kebab comes out after marinating in kefir. It can be replaced with another fermented milk product - fermented baked milk, ayran, natural yogurt.

pork neck – 800 g;
drink – 450 ml;
large onion – 3-4 pcs.;
ground pepper, salt.

The chopped neck, cleaned of excess fat, should be poured with kefir, add chopped onions and spices. Cover the meat with a lid and leave to marinate in the cold for 10-12 hours. Cooked pork must be fried on skewers for 20-25 minutes until an appetizing golden color.

In pomegranate marinade

One of the most recognizable and favorite Caucasian-style pork shashlik recipes is prepared with pomegranate marinade. It gives the meat a pleasant sweet and sour taste and a special smell.

pork meat – 1.2-1.4 kg;
pomegranate juice – 220 ml;
onions, preferably reddish – 3 pcs.;
wine vinegar (or lemon juice) – 50 ml;
fragrant herbs.

The meat must be washed under running water, dried with a napkin and cut into pieces of approximately equal size, onions into rings. Place the ingredients in a deep bowl, add salt and pepper, and add fragrant herbs. Separately mix natural lemon juice with wine vinegar and pour the liquid over the pork. The kebab should be marinated for 8-10 hours, after which it is fried on the grill for 18-23 minutes.

In tomato marinade

The freshest, ripe tomatoes perfectly complement the taste of juicy pork, giving it a light spicy note.

pork slices – 2.2 kg;
tomatoes – 1 kg;
medium-sized onion – 9 pcs.;
dill, cilantro - a bunch;
spices.

In order to prepare an appetizing Caucasian kebab, you need to cut the washed and dried pork into portions, the onion into half rings, and the tomatoes into slices. All ingredients should be mixed, spices and chopped herbs should be added and marinated for 5-6 hours. Fry over hot coals for 25-30 minutes. Meat on skewers can be alternated with tomato slices and onion rings.

With oranges and walnuts

The original and unusual combination of ripe citrus fruits and spicy walnuts makes the taste of Caucasian kebab the most catchy and rich, with a slight sourness.

pork – 1.7 kg;
onions – 4-6 pcs.;
oranges – 5-6 pcs.;
crushed walnuts – 350 g;
garlic cloves – 4-6 pcs.;
reddish dry wine – 2 l;
fragrant herbs.

The pork must be cut into medium-sized cubes, the garlic and walnuts must be chopped, the onions must be cut into half rings, and the oranges into slices. The meat should be poured into a separate vessel with all the other ingredients and poured with reddish wine, left for 8-9 hours. After this, thread onto skewers and fry until golden brown.

If you do not drink reddish wine, you can replace it with kumis in the marinade. This will not deteriorate the taste of the kebab.

With tomato juice and onions

Shish kebab made from delicious pork, aromatic onions and sweet and sour tomato juice is a traditional recipe that is popular far beyond the Caucasus.

pork neck – 2 kg;
tomato juice – 3 l;
onions – 1 kg;
table vinegar – 30-50 ml;
garlic cloves – 5-6 pcs.;
ground dark pepper.

The pork should be cut into cubes of approximately the same size, the onions into rings, and the garlic cloves should be put through a garlic press. Place meat and onion rings in layers into a deep bowl, then pour in a mixture of tomato juice and vinegar. Salt, pepper and marinate for 8-9 hours. The pork must be threaded onto skewers alternately with onion rings and fried for about 25-30 minutes.

With vegetables

A fragrant and juicy pork kebab with vegetables will not only be a catchy addition to the usual picnic menu, but also a worthy candidate for a real lunch. You can choose vegetables at your discretion - eggplants, zucchini, tomatoes, zucchini.

pork slices – 1.6 kg;
tomatoes – 6-8 pcs.;
onions – 7-8 pcs.;
sweet bell pepper – 3-4 pcs.;
adjika – 50-80 g;
sparkling mineral water – 300 ml;
reddish dry wine – 300 ml;
a mixture of ground peppers, hops-suneli.

The meat must be washed, dried and cut into cubes. Divide the onion into two halves - cut one into rings, finely chop the second or pass through a meat grinder. In the deepest container you should put the meat, chopped and crushed onions, adjika, spices, pour in a mixture of reddish wine and mineral water.

Vegetables are prepared separately. Cut the tomatoes into slices, bell pepper into slices. Place pork, a slice of tomato and sweet pepper alternately on skewers. Fry the kebabs for 23-28 minutes, serve with baked vegetables, fresh herbs and pita bread.

Juicy and fragrant kebab straight from the fire is a dish that is simply impossible to resist. Various recipes for ordinary Caucasian shish kebab will help make your outdoor recreation simply unforgettable.

From Georgia with love. Recipes for real Caucasian shish kebab

Shashlik comes from the Caucasus. More precisely, different countries can argue about its origin, but it came to us, in Russia, specifically from the Caucasus Mountains. Therefore, the ideal kebab, the most faithful and tasty, is the one from Georgia, Dagestan or Armenia. We have collected tried and tested kebab recipes from Caucasian chefs or in the Caucasian style. There are a lot of herbs, spices, etc. vegetable oil. Specifically, it is one of the favorite marinades in the Caucasus.

We asked chefs native to the Caucasus about what Caucasian kebab is.

“Not a single Georgian feast is complete without shish kebab,” says Mamiya Jojua, chef of the Kazbek restaurant . — As a rule, it is necessary to cook it in nature; this creates a whole ritual: making meat, marinade and lighting a fire. One of the brightest recipes is Kakheti-style shish kebab - sliced beef marinated in reddish adjika, served with baked vegetables and Georgian sauces.

When making barbecue, you should limit yourself to very ordinary ingredients: salt, reddish and black pepper, onions and vegetable oil, says Eka Jikia, chef of the Acha-Chacha restaurant. “Such a simple recipe will help reveal the real taste of meat. Almost everyone marinates meat with lemon, kiwi, coriander, thyme and other various spices and fruits. Some people do this to emphasize the catchy taste of spices and seasonings, while others do it to hide the low quality of the product. In Abkhazia, and in the Caucasus as a whole, they do not use complex combinations in marinades. And I fully support this,” she says.

Veal shish kebab

Recipe by Badri Lemonjava, brand chef of Megobari restaurant

1 kg veal
200 g onions
20 g rock salt
Dark crushed pepper
Reddish ground paprika
200 ml vegetable oil

Step 1. Cut the veal into small pieces and place in a basin.

Step 2. Chop the onion, add it to the meat, along with spices and salt.

Step 3. Pour in oil, stir and leave to marinate for 3 hours.

Step 4. At this time, light a fire and wait for the burgundy coals to appear.

Step 5. Thread the meat onto a skewer and place it on the grill. We often turn the meat over so that the kebab is perfectly baked, but remains juicy.

Step 6. After cooking, remove the meat from the skewer. You can serve it on pita bread with a variety of sauces to choose from.

Pork neck shashlik

Recipe by Garik Manukyan, chef of the Khmeli&Suneli restaurant

1 kg pork neck
500 ml pomegranate juice
1 kg onions
6 g ground coriander
6 g ground paprika
4 g dark ground pepper
10 g salt

Step 2. Place the chopped meat in a marinating container, add salt and pepper, add coriander and paprika, leave for a while so that everything is absorbed.

Step 3. At this time, peel the onion, chop finely and mix with the meat.

Step 4. Add pomegranate juice to the meat in small portions, always mixing well. The juice should be distributed moderately throughout the mass.

Step 5. Cover the meat with a plate or lid and marinate for 6-10 hours.

Step 6. Fry the pieces of meat on the grill.

Traditional Caucasian kebab

Recipe by Pavel Pantet, chef of the Caucasian Captive restaurant

1 kg beef slices
300 g onion
12 g salt
Dark ground pepper

200 g tomatoes
70 ml water
5 g dry adjika
1 tooth garlic
Salt and sugar
bunch of cilantro
Spices (khmeli-suneli, utskho-suneli, coriander)

Step 1. Cut the cooked, cooled beef into medium portions, approximately 4 cm each. If the pieces are small, the meat may turn out dry or overcooked, and large pieces may be raw inside.

Step 2. For the marinade, cut the onion into thin half rings. Add salt and dark pepper, stir vigorously until juice appears.

Step 3. Mix the resulting marinade with pieces of beef and let sit for about an hour.

Step 4. Fry the meat over coals. It is important that the coals are moderately heated “to a grayish color.” Then it will be possible to achieve uniform roasting of the meat.

Step 5. Fry until done, depending on the desired degree of doneness.

Step 6. Prepare the sauce: blanch the freshest tomatoes, remove the skin and puree in a blender.

Step 7. Add water, salt, sugar, adjika, finely chopped garlic, spices to the resulting tomato mass and cook for 15-20 minutes over low heat.

Step 8. Cool the sauce and combine with finely chopped cilantro.

Lamb loin on charcoal

Recipe by Grigory Meneshyan, chef of the Khachapuria restaurant

300 g lamb loin
10 g salt
2 g dark pepper
2 g coriander
10 ml sunflower oil

Pork chalagach in Armenian style

Recipe by Igor Ten, brand chef of Zharovnya restaurants

320 g pork loin on the bone
30 g reddish onion
40 g salsa sauce
cilantro leaves
Dark peppercorns
15 g mayonnaise
5 ml lemon juice
1 pita bread
30 g pickled onions

Step 1. Prepare the marinade by mixing mayonnaise, salsa, salt, pepper, 15 grams of red onion and lemon juice.

Step 2. Marinate the pork in the prepared mixture for 2 hours. Grill until cooked through and golden brown.

Step 3. Place the loin on pita bread, garnish with the freshest cilantro leaves, salsa sauce and pickled red onions.

Veal kebab with thyme

The creator of the recipe is Fuad Aliyev, brand chef of the Zafferano restaurant chain.

1 kg veal
100 g onion
13 g salt
3 g dark pepper
5 g thyme

Step 1. Clean the veal and cut into pieces of 40-45 g.

Step 2. Cut the onion into rings and add to the meat. Salt and add pepper and thyme. Leave for 1-2 hours.

Step 3. Place the meat on skewers and grill over coals.

A real recipe for pork shish kebab from an old highlander

Shish kebab is a common dish of Caucasian cuisine that is loved all over the world. Almost all people cook meat on the grill, regardless of their nationality, but it is believed that the inhabitants of the Caucasus can create true magic and cook the most delicious kebab in the world. For Caucasians, making shish kebab is a creative process, and it is constantly associated with inspiration and little secrets—the last ones, fortunately, they are happy to share.

Any of us can pamper our loved ones with the most delicious Caucasian kebab, but its preparation requires effort: you not only need to light a fire, wait for hot coals and fry the meat, but also choose it correctly, and, of course, marinate it. That, after all, following useful tips, you can prepare such a kebab that your friends and relatives will remember for a long time - and these memories will be pleasant.

How to choose the right meat for barbecue

The usual Caucasian kebab is prepared from young lamb or mutton, but “getting” such meat in some versions is very problematic. Moreover, not everyone loves lamb, for example, although there is a worldview that it simply needs to be cooked correctly.

However, you can still use cut pork for barbecue, and this is great, because pork barbecue is a favorite dish of almost all people.

There is a worldview that for barbecue it is better to eat meat that has already been frozen. But this is absolutely not true: such a kebab can turn out tasteless and bland. Therefore, it is better to eat fresh meat.

To choose juicy and tender meat, pay attention to the pork neck. There is little fat in the neck, so the kebab will turn out to be specifically “meaty”.

Keep in mind: fresh meat is always uniformly pink in color and smells good. Uneven color and any impurities in the smell are already an alarm bell: you should not take such meat.

It is necessary to cut the meat into medium slices - then they will be moderately cooked and juicy. If the pieces of meat are very large, they may not be fried; very small pieces may burn. Don’t be shy about using onions: Caucasian kebab predicts that there must be a lot of it! Onions are added to the marinade and simply fried together with the meat.

But it is necessary to salt the pork during production or before it - but not at the marinating step. If you salt the meat right away, it may turn out tough.

Caucasian kebab with lemon: marinade recipe

The choice of marinade is very important, since the final result will depend on this. Let's try to prepare a marinade with lemon - lemon juice will make the meat soft and tender.

2 kilograms of pork;
6 lemons;
30 ml olive oil;
50 grams of basil (fresh, chopped);
10 g ginger root;
1 tsp each seasonings: black pepper, bay leaves, cinnamon, coriander.

Preparing this marinade is very simple:

carefully wash the pork and cut into 5-6 cm slices;
lemons must be cut into slices;
mix the meat with lemon, add olive oil and spices.

That's it - our marinade is ready! The meat will marinate for about 10 hours; in other words, it is better to leave it in the marinade overnight (that is, in the dark) . If you cook the kebab a little earlier - for example, after 8 hours, then nothing terrible will happen - it will also be tasty.

Do not forget that the meat must be stirred during marinating - it is better to do this a couple of times. Then we string the portioned pieces onto a skewer and fry until golden brown.

What can you do to check the readiness of the kebab? It's simple: take a fork or knife and pierce a piece - the finished meat will not be reddish, but “transparent”.

Marinade for shashlik with reddish wine

Wine, reddish or snow-white, is often used to make marinade. Snow-white wine makes the kebab the most tender, reddish wine gives it a special taste.

1.5 kilograms of pork meat;
6 onions;
0.5 liters of reddish wine;
a bunch of cilantro;
2 pcs. lemon;
half a bunch of basil and dill;
Bay leaf;
pepper or a mixture of peppers.

Before marinating, the pork must be washed and then cut - the pieces, as we remember, should not be small. Cut the onion into half rings. The pomegranate does not need to be disassembled into grains - we will only need to squeeze the juice out of it.

Mix all the ingredients, not counting the wine - the greens, of course, must be finely chopped. Now pour the marinated meat with wine and leave for at least 4 hours - preferably, naturally, 6 hours.

Leave a little wine and pomegranate juice to drizzle over the kebab while grilling.

Veal shish kebab

Let's also try to cook traditional veal shish kebab.

veal - 1 kg;
onions - 200 gr.;
salt - 20 g;
pepper - black, ground or crushed;
paprika;
vegetable oil - 200 gr.

It is very simple to prepare such a marinade; first, cut the veal. The pieces should not be very small or very large, but in this case the slices will be smaller than ordinary portioned pieces for pork kebab.

Lamb kebab

If you are going to cook traditional Caucasian lamb shish kebab, then you need to know about certain “secrets” - they relate to both the choice of meat and the marinade.

It is necessary to use young lamb - kebab from old meat often turns out tough and not very tasty. The meat must be pink - if it is dark, it means “the ram was old.”

They usually choose loin, neck, ribs, ham, shoulder - they also use fat tail. When you select meat, try to press on it - the hole should level out and not remain indented. Also make sure that the meat is not covered with blood (the internal environment of the body) or mucus.

Before production, the lamb is cleared of films and the tendons are cut out. The shish kebab pieces should be small - about 4 cm.

Let's prepare the onion marinade for the lamb.

about 2 kg of lamb;
1-2 kilograms of onions;
salt, black pepper.

There is nothing complicated in making the marinade: you need to cut the onion into half rings, mix with the meat and mash well with your hands. Pepper can be added immediately, salt - during production.

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An Armenian reveals the secret of real Caucasian kebab

When I first came to Armenia, I didn’t immediately realize what smell constantly distracted my attention. An indescribable smell wafted through the streets of Yerevan, which made you not only want to work, but even to think. Later, by the 2nd week of our stay in this delightful country, I realized that it was the smell of barbecue.

Shashlik is a decoration of any Caucasian country. Every Caucasian people has its own cooking secrets, but in Armenia the smells assured me that I will never taste tastier kebab in my life.

I worked in this country for about a year and all this time I communicated with chefs and ordinary Armenians and learned the various intricacies of cooking barbecue.

Meat selection

Making shish kebab requires a very strict approach. In the countries of the Caucasus, this is a whole ritual. The main point that you should pay attention to is the correctly selected meat. You can come across the worldview that Caucasian kebab is only made from lamb, but this has nothing to do with reality. You can choose from:

Lamb
Pork
Beef
Veal
Chicken
Game
Fish

It doesn’t matter what kind of animal meat you eat, but what quality it will have. It is better to take fairly fresh meat so that it is not hard - normally, no more than 2-3 days should pass after slaughtering an animal. When meat sits for a long time, even in the freezer, it begins to age. The fibers become less elastic, which means that during cooking it will harden more quickly.

Correctly selected marinade

Any meat should be marinated before cooking - this will give it beautiful flavor colors and make it softer and more pleasant.

Almost everyone uses almost everything they can get their hands on as a marinade, but this is a mistake. In order to prepare a marinade, you need not just knowledge, but also the ability to combine ingredients in the correct order. Marinate meat, depending on the composition of the marinade, a different amount of time is needed.

We know quite a lot of different recipes for marinades that our relatives are used to seasoning meat with. The most famous of them:

Lemon and gas-water is the fastest marinade; it should not be kept for more than 3-4 hours.
Mayonnaise and onion
Kefir marinade
Marinade in whey
Orange juice and spices

This is only a very moderate list of the most popular marinades. There are essentially many more of them, but in general the products can be any. There is only one rule - it is not allowed to keep meat in an acidic marinade for a long time.

Preparing the grill

Now we need to prepare the grill. For some reason, a stereotype has developed that this is the most common thing - as long as the fire burns. But in fact, the right heat and the right wood can significantly improve the taste of the final dish.

The fire needs to be lit in advance so that everything has time to burn thoroughly. Perfectly, so that the logs themselves were birch, oak, linden. Literally, you should not take old and painted boards or any coniferous trees. The extreme ones produce a very acrid smoke, which gives both the meat and everything around a nasty smell.

Whatever firewood you choose, be sure to let it burn thoroughly. In this way, you will get a very measured and good heat, which will make it possible to cook several batches of good meat. If you want to add flavor to the smoke, simply throw a pinch of dried herbs into the fire.

How to fry

In general, one of the most important aspects in making shish kebab is the process of frying it. For some reason, there is a worldview that cooking meat over a fire is easy - they say, just do it from time to time and that will be enough. This is precisely why most people’s kebab comes out dry, burnt, or, on the contrary, raw.

Did you know that different meats need to be skewered differently? It is better to plant chicken and pork further away from each other, and it is even better to share them with some other elements, for example vegetables. This “planting” will help the meat bake faster on all sides. But it is better to skewer beef and lamb very tightly so that they lose less juice and do not turn into dry pieces.
Perfect, if your grill has 6-8 different positions, in which you can fix the skewer. The meat needs to be turned frequently and better so that the positions are always slightly different. This way the meat is evenly cooked and has an appetizing appearance.
Do not leave the fire even for a minute - fat is constantly dripping from the meat, which at any moment can burst into flames, which in a matter of seconds will turn the meat into charred coals.
It is possible and even necessary to additionally moisten the meat from time to time. Another option is to simply coat it with marinade.
It is necessary not only to turn the meat, but also to change the skewers in places - the fact is that the heat at the edges may be a little weaker and this greatly affects the meat in the end.
When you remove the meat from the fire, do not rush to immediately throw it into a plate - let it lie on the skewers and retain its juiciness. If the table allows it, then you can completely abandon the meat on skewers.